'Return to Sender' Explores Colonial Postcards with Expert Panel at SAC

Southampton Arts Center is hosting a special free screening of director Mara Ahmed’s documentary film Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards & the Politics of Representation followed by a panel with the filmmakers this Sunday, November 19 from 2–4 p.m.

Part of a New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)-funded project that investigates Orientalist images of Indian women, circulated as postcards, during the British Raj — rule over the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947 — the film pushes the documentary medium in unexpected ways by opening with three contemporary South Asian American women who recreate British colonial postcards from the early 20th century.

“Dressed in lavish traditional attire and jewelry, and shot exquisitely in a darkened studio, the women emulate the awkward poses of the postcard women, only to subvert the colonial male gaze and acquire autonomy by choosing an action of their own,” SAC explains. “This symbolic ‘returning’ of the Orientalist gaze is layered with discussions about Eurocentric beauty standards, representations of South Asian women in media and culture, stereotypes, othering, identity and belonging.”

The film hopes to create community by inspiring and facilitating conversations about erasure and the politics of representation. It premiered in October and has since screened locally at Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock Reservation in Southampton, among other venues on Long Island.

At Southampton Arts Center on Sunday, the post-screening panelists include Jeremy Dennis (fine art photographer, lead artist and president of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio), Minerva Perez (executive director of Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island), and Brenda Simmons (Executive Director and Founder of Southampton African American Museum).

They will be in conversation with filmmaker Mara Ahmed and the audience.

Southampton Arts Center is located at 25 Jobs Lane in Southampton Village. Call 631-283-0967 or visit southamptonartscenter.org.